This invention relates to an ecologically benign product which has for its primary focus the control and eradication of fire ants, and in particular the eradication of fire ants of the species solenopsis invicta.
There has long been a need to control the spread of fire ants. At present they have invaded ever-increasing areas of the Southeastern and Southwestern United States and the Western Coast of California. It has been estimated that the red imported fire ant causes more than three hundred million dollars worth of damage per year in Texas alone. This damage is in addition to the greater and even more widespread menace the fire ant poses to the safety of humans, animals and other forms of wildlife.
Fire ants are omnivorous, feeding on almost any plant or animal matter. In rural habitats fire ants have a major impact on ground nesting animals from insects to reptiles, to birds to mammals. The arrival of the fire ant into an ecosystem wrecks havoc on the local ecological community. In some instances, the depredation caused by fire ants has completely eliminated some species from an ecosystem with resulting adverse repercussions throughout the local food chain.
One approach, which has been employed to control the fire ant with minimal success, involves the use of chemicals, a treatment which itself often imposes environmental hazards. Moreover the fire ant develops immunity to chemicals through biological change rendering such treatment both costly and often ineffective.